Multiple Injured as In-Flight Disturbance Impacts Delta Flight Landing at Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew were hurt after a Delta flight originating in Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia was hit by significant turbulence this past Friday.

Flight DL41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at Sydney Airport, an airline spokesperson informed. A number of the onboard staff required medical attention.

Emergency medical services said they treated five patients, and took three to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries that included back pain and headaches. The injured were between their 30s to 70s.

The event represents the newest example of planes encountering severe turbulence, with researchers pointing out that climate change is a significant contributor.

On board were 245 people and 15 crew members on the wide-body jet, the official added, clarifying that the plane arrived "without further incident" at Sydney Airport at 6:48 a.m. local time on Friday.

The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they received a call just only 180 seconds ahead of the plane touched down, and response teams were standing by on the runway.

Why plane turbulence is growing increasingly prevalent - and more severe.

During the past year, two dozen individuals were hurt when a Delta Airlines flight, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, Netherlands, hit "considerable" turbulence just two hours into the lengthy trip, and had to make an emergency landing.

Earlier this year, those on board on a Singapore Airlines jet experienced a frightening brief five-second bout of severe turbulence. A traveler passed away and many were hurt, as individuals not fastened in were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

In-flight turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while occurrences of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are remained quite uncommon.

Research indicates that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of severe-or-greater turbulence annually, out of a sum of more than 35 million journeys that currently occur worldwide.

Strong atmospheric disturbance is defined as when the up and down movements of a plane passing through rough air masses apply in excess of 1.5 times the force of gravity on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you were not fastened by a seatbelt.

As a changing climate modifies atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that flying could become more turbulent: shifts in temperature and altered air currents in the jet stream level are expected to increase the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.